why should a med school accept you?

i am reading dale carnegie's book on influencing people and gaining friends, so i am kind of in that mind set right now . . .

anyhow, not to be to cliche, but what do you guys think the med school admission staffs really looks for in an applicant?

i figure it comes down to choosing applicants that will best represent their institution, but in what way? what benefit do they get by picking the applicants that they eventually do pick? (something like NIH funding, ego boost for passing students that get top residencies?)

in other words, when your file is sitting in front of an adcom, what is their motivation to pick you as opposed to another applicant?

I've only had two interview so far (fingers crossed for more), but what I have found is that what a medical school wants in its applicants ON PAPER and what it actually goes for is quite different. On paper they emphasize compassion, depth of character, perseverence, and determination. All personal attributes that are *desired* in their applicants. However, it seems that if these qualities were truly that important to schools, that they would offer more interviews with a less stringent screening process to evaluate these qualities among applicants. It really seems that they look for high mcat scores, GPA, and clinical experience. Screw the compassion. How many docs have you met that care more about their patients then their income flow or whether they will get insurance money from treating such-and-such a patient? I rest my case.

Just wrote a letter to UF to 'update' my file by basically telling them that when I interviewed, I couldn't fairly say it would be a top choice since it was my first interview. Now, 2 months later, that I've been to other schools both in and out of state and compared them... UF will remain a top choice for x,y,z. Nothing out of the ordinary at this point.. then I decided to list why I would match well with their school.
Here's what I came up with:

o Looking to go into academic medicine &#8211; research, great instructors.
o Preventive medicine interest - 2 year-long EPC course gives hand-on experience
o Would be active in student committees &#8211; try to improve education as I did here at USF.
o The students are extremely friendly, down to earth, and intelligent.

The last one was sorta presumptous, making the assumption that I have those attributes also, but I truly felt I fit in with the students and that sounded like a good way of saying this without sounding vague

The applicants they drool over are applicants they think will become prominent figures in their fields. They want future Nobel prize winners, world renown surgeons, etc. because these people bring in the grants and help increase the prestige for the school. But, at the same time, they select a so-called diverse group of people...or else they would receive public criticism.

hmmm.. maybe it WAS worded improperly. I have a tendency to do that (do a search for 'archaic' in this forum..)

What I MEANT was this: they have lots of student committee- honor code, admissions, rotations and curriculum. Through correspondence with students, I learned that they have a constantly evolving curriculum, taking input from UF med students each semester to be integrated the following year. I would love to be a part of this, for I did similar things in undergrad through SG. Hopefully they make this connection instead of the negative one.

Thanks for pointing that out. Now atleast if they reject me, I'll know why.

Whatever happened with that whole archaic secondary incident? Did it come up in your interview or anything? I wouldn't worry about how your "improve education" comment will be interpreted. Most schools, at least the good ones, are always looking to their students in search of feedback on how to improve. Anyways, best of luck!

As for USF, I was at the first interview of the regular season (after EDP) so it obviously didn't phase them. Yet they did put me on the waitlist after what I thought was the best interview I've had. So maybe they are still sore about that "last choice medical school" line.

The way I look at it is this: they are on my 'waitlist' of schools, because I honestly haven't committed to a school, since I have applications still up in the air. After these final schools either reject me or interview me, then I will have MY personal favorites. A few months down the road, I'll send them lots of follow up info, call every other week and hope I get pulled off. This of course is for schools that like that sorta thing, which is the case for the 5 schools I've interviewed at so far.

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